


Greatness

by LemonDropBoi



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Demons, Drama, Horror, M/M, Romance, supernatural!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-11
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-17 17:40:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10598937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LemonDropBoi/pseuds/LemonDropBoi
Summary: What would you do for greatness? How much would you sacrifice for it?Tsukishima notices that Yamaguchi's skill has increased out of nowhere, but he doesn't look all that happy about it. What Tuskishima doesn't know is that Yamaguchi has found himself at odds with a demon in order to get better at volleyball.





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Warnings and rating may change if needed. I will always give a TW/CW in the beginning notes if the chapter needs it. 
> 
> Yama is precious and I love him, but I just had to write a darker story about him /rolls.

_“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”_

**Edgar Allen Poe**

 

The air felt great against Yamaguchi’s skin, the walk was the part of actually going home that Yamaguchi enjoyed. To no surprise, he was joined by his closest friend Tsukishima. The walk was silent, neither really had the energy to spark up a conversation after a long afternoon of training.

Yamaguchi’s eyes watched Tsukishima’s back as they walked, the other was walking straight ahead as if nothing could get in his way. He earned the right to walk that way because of his natural ability to dominate the court alongside the other amazing 1st stringers of Karasuno’s volleyball team. Yamaguchi on the other hand, fell behind, not only on their walk home but on the court as well.

“Is something wrong?” Tsukishima’s voice broke Yamaguchi’s thoughts, causing him to stop mid-step.

“Huh?” Yamaguchi asked, his expression blank due to the abrupt question.

“You’ve been burning a hole in my back for a good five minutes, is there something you want to say?” Tsukishima also stopped, turning as cold eyes seemed to stare through his best friend, watching him squirm.

“N-No! I was just zoning out and didn't realize I was staring right at your back!” Yamaguchi sounded as if he were a child being disciplined. “It won’t happen again!”

Tsukishima knew it was more than just zoning out but pressing further would only make Yamaguchi’s current state worse. By this time, Tsukishima had also stopped, his body partially facing the other. While his expression clearly held the fact that the blonde didn’t believe Yamaguchi was simply zoning out, his lips didn’t move from their closed state to question him any further.

Yamaguchi began to sweat, he had no real excuse for staring and he didn't want to complain to Tsukishima about feeling inferior to the rest of the team. Luckily, Yamaguchi could see his house about half a block away.

“I should get going, my mom’s been on me about coming home so late.” Yamaguchi smiled the strongest he could manage and scratched the back of his head.

Before Tsukishima could say a word, Yamaguchi scurried past him and headed right for his house, the encounter was awkward but not unusual. The blonde placed his headphones on his head and continued towards his house, which was only a few minutes from Yamaguchi’s.

 -

Once Yamaguchi was in his house, he went straight to his room and changed from his uniform. He felt more at ease outside but didn’t want to be a bother to Tsukishima any more than he already had.

Seeing as how he wasn’t particularly hungry and didn’t really feel like getting into the bath right away, he laid on his bed and began looking over some class notes. The room was dark, the only light came from the street lights peeking through his window.

His house was quiet, considering it was just him and his mom. She was either already in the bath or in her room getting ready for bed, his nights usually ended alone because of their schedules.

  
It didn't take the boy long to give up his note reading after realizing the poor lighting from outside wasn't enough illumination. He leaned back on his bed,  his eyes tracing over the ceiling of his room. His mind lingered back to practice and how hard he tried and yet he couldn’t compare to Tsukishima or even Hinata.

What separated him from the players on first string? Was it talent? Or worse, maybe even drive? His fists formed into a ball as he became frustrated. Was there something so wrong with him that he couldn’t reach their level?

“They say you don’t choose greatness, that it chooses you.” A low voice suddenly emerged from the darkness, causing Yamaguchi to immediately freeze in place as the voice continued, “I don’t believe that because I hold it in my hand for anyone to take.”

Yamaguchi began to shake, his eyes slowly dropped from the ceiling and landed on an unsettling darkness in his closet. A hand was peeking out of the darkness, Yamaguchi’s volleyball jersey held in its grip.

“Are you afraid of greatness, Yamaguchi?” the voice asked, something sinister lingering behind it. “Don’t fear it, take a hold of it and join the rest of your team on the court.” The entity  
held the jersey out even more, as if inviting or daring him to take it.

Yamaguchi stood up, how could someone have gotten in his house without his mother knowing? He moved closer, his entire body shaking at this point.

“What do you want?” was all the brunette could muster at that point.

“To give you a chance.” The voice echoed and suddenly a dark being with piercing golden eyes stepped out of the shadows.

The entity had a body similar to a human and wore no clothes. Its skin was dark gray with various markings on it. Its hair was pitch black and fell past its waist, while a pair of horns  
set upon its head.

Once Yamaguchi saw what had come out of the shadows, he fell to the floor in a mixture of shock and fear. The entity crouched to meet the other’s eye level, taking the boy’s chin between his clawed fingers.

“What do you say, Yamaguchi?” he asked, “How about a chance at greatness?”


	2. 02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long! I was out of town at an anime convention and then had to catch up on all my uni work. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more frequent on this fic and my Boruto fic now.
> 
> I know I haven't revealed the demon's name but I will in chapter 3. He is based on an actual demon, but maybe he'll be OOC?? idk. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and if you'd like to help me out by becoming a beta-reader for this fic, please email me (lemonboi2k15@gmail.com) or pm me on tumblr.

Yamaguchi could only stare at the demon before him, he’d only ever seen anything like him in anime or video games. The nails pressed against his chin caused his skin to crawl, his lips quivering as he attempted to talk.

“I...don’t understand?” Yamaguchi asked. “What do you want?”

The demon let his pointed tongue slide across his lips, devouring the look of fear on the human’s face. “It’s not what I want, but what you want.” his voice was sickeningly sweet despite the dangerous look in his eyes.

“What?” was the only response Yamaguchi could muster, he didn’t understand what the creature was talking about.

“Oh, don’t play dumb,” The demon pulled the shaking teen closer, his face morphing into an exact copy of Yamaguchi’s, “Boo hoo, I’m not as good as everyone else on my team. Why am I such a loser, I should just die.” the voice came out mockingly.

“I never said that!” The freckled boy croaked, his expression twisting onto a mix between fear and anger.

“But you thought it.” a finger pressed against Yamaguchi’s lips, the sharpened nail tickling the tip of his nose. “I’ve been watching you for some time now, you’re pathetic and I came here to help you become something worth the space you take up in this shitty realm.”

The finger was removed from his lips but Yamaguchi didn’t say a word, his eyes fell to the floor. So, he wasn't the only one to know how pathetic he was.

“I...can’t,” Yamaguchi whispered, “everyone works so hard and if I just cheated like that, I wouldn’t deserve to  be on the same court as everyone else.”

“You’re a benchwarmer so, you’re actually not even on the same court as them. No matter how hard you work it doesn’t amount to anything because you never leave that bench.” the demon shrugged, “I’m just trying to give you a chance to help your team get to nationals.”

Yamaguchi can’t help but think over the offer, winning nationals would help everyone and not just himself. He would be doing something helpful to everyone and would it really be cheating? The brunette shook his head, he shouldn’t even consider the options.

“No, I’ll work just like everyone else, even if that means I have to sit on the bench for the next three years.” he pulls himself out of the demon’s grip and crawls into his bed. “Go away!” he turned to face the wall so, he didn’t have to see the other.

Despite hoping to go to sleep, Yamaguchi laid awake the entire night wishing the whole thing was just some bad dream.

 

The next day Yamaguchi spent most of his day sleeping and avoiding the lurking darkness behind him. It was clear that Yamaguchi was the only one who could see the demon so, he started to question whether it was real or not. Nothing made sense about it, he really had nothing to offer but despite that, the demon still lurked in every dark corner near Yamaguchi.  
He spent lunch alone despite his teammates wanting to hangout, he was exhausted and terrified. The walk through the school halls to get back to class seemed longer than usual.

“Did you hear that the volleyball club won its first game in its competition to nationals?” Yamaguchi’s thoughts were interrupted by the gossiping of a few of his classmates.

“Did you see it? because I watched the game and it was pretty awesome. The players on both teams could jump crazy high!” a female student chimed in.

“That’s because we spend so much time practicing our jumps and movements.” without fully realizing it, Yamaguchi had spoken up.

“We? Are you part of the volleyball club?” the female student turned back and looked at Yamaguchi with suspicion.

“Y-Yeah, I was at the game you’re talking about.” his voice suddenly weakened, his cheeks burning with nervousness.

“Strange, I didn’t see you on the court…” she shrugged as the rest of the group stared holes in Yamaguchi, which caused him to recoil.

Before he could respond, the group turned away and walked away from him. The hall slowly emptied as all the students returned to class. Yamaguchi stood in the same place for what seemed like an eternity, his head hung low.  
Nobody even knew he was a part of the team, he realized how bad Tsukishima’s brother must have felt when he was at Karasuno.

“Reconsider my offer yet?” a dark voice rung through the hall as he felt a pair of hands slither over his shoulders, “How can they expect a child to endure so much, let me take some of this weight from your shoulders and make things easier for you.” the voice suddenly became a whisper right next to the boy’s ear.

“But, it wouldn’t be fair for me to do that.” Yamaguchi pleaded, almost as if his life depended on it.

“What’s not fair is that you try so hard and yet it amounts to nothing. Even the playing fields and accept my deal.” the demon’s words sounded so good to Yamaguchi, but he needed to fight it.

“It’s wrong.” his responses were getting shorter as his will to deny broke down, why did everything the demon said make sense to him.

“It’s time for you to show everyone just how good you are, Yamaguchi.” the demon’s lips were ticking the back of Yamaguchi’s ear, “Show them how hard you’ve worked for the team.”

Yamaguchi knew how hard he worked, how much practice he put in after the club ended. His hands calloused from how many ball he’s hit, why was he the only one not on the team?

“Okay…” he mumbled and felt the weight on his shoulders shift, within seconds the demon was face to face with him.

“Good boy.” the demon smiled sweetly, he was much taller than Yamaguchi which made it easy for him to kiss the boy’s forehead.

Everything felt cold the second lips were on Yamaguchi’s forehead, something wasn’t right. The demon’s once sweet expression twisted into a sinister smile and cold eyes. The boy collapsed to his knees, his breathing rigid as he tried to call out for help. His voice was lost and all he could do was collapse to the floor.

 

“Yamaguchi, why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” the voice of Tsukishima rung inside of Yamaguchi’s ears.

He quickly realized his eyes were open and he was staring up at the ceiling of his room, “I...I’m sorry?” he asked.

“You’re still pretty out of it.” Tsukishima sighed, “You collapsed at school yesterday, a teacher found you laying in the hall.”

The brunette sat up, brushing the hair from his face. What happened to the demon? He wondered while looking around the room. “I don’t remember what happened.” that was a lie.

“You need to stop hiding everything, if you’re sick it’s okay to take it easy.” the bespectacled boy’s voice was stern, he must have been worried.

“I’m sorry.” despite apologizing, his lips curled into a smile.

He must have dreamt all that demon stuff because he was sick, there were no signs of a change in him or the creatures from before.

“Don’t laugh, you scared the whole team half to death. You need to properly thank the teacher who took you to the nurse's office tomorrow.” Tsukishima lectured his closest friend.

“Yes, Tsukki-” he started, but his eyes caught a shift in his closet which cause his mouth to gape open.

The closet door creaked open and peeking through the crack were the glowing eyes of the demon, the light shining into the darkness from his room revealed a terrifying smile on his lips. He had his finger to his lips as if to tell Yamaguchi to “shush”. 

Yamaguchi began to shake, it wasn’t a dream and he’d really made a deal with a demon yesterday.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr : https://lemondropboi.tumblr.com/


End file.
